Get more than two-dimensional view of Social Security fraud: Letters

The Daily Breeze published a letter about Social Security disability fraud from a reader who got her information from a comic strip. My son works for a Social Security disability law firm preparing dossiers, and I can comfort your reader that being approved for SSD is a very difficult process. Applications are rarely granted the first time, judges who decide cases are very critical and many worthy applicants are denied.

If SSD were easy to get, Manhattan Beach and Los Angeles would have a lot fewer homeless veterans and others on the streets. Instead of worrying about “millions” of tax dollars wasted on SSD fraud, the writer should worry about the billions in tax benefits given to the 1 percent and big corporations who export jobs and store trillions in profits in offshore accounts.

The Daily Breeze also recently published a letter about Christian theology from a reader who got her information from “Duck Dynasty,” as well as several letters from climate change deniers who ignore the work of the vast majority of climate scientists and pay no attention to the weather — for example, getting excited about two days of cold weather in the East while ignoring two weeks of above-average high temperatures in L.A.

I suggest you hire a fact checker before you publish these baseless right-wing rants.

— Henry Hespenheide, Hermosa Beach

Economic gains too slow to help long-term jobless

Re “Obama: Senate unemployment vote an ‘important step’ ” (Jan. 7):

So Congress is looking to extend unemployment insurance for 12 more weeks. If this isn’t kicking the can down the road, I don’t know what is. Does anyone think in 12 weeks these people will suddenly have jobs and move off of unemployment? Or will they need another extension?

The real problem is why this extension is needed when the Obama administration tells us the unemployment situation and economy is good. Five years into the economic policies of President Obama, and we are stagnating.

Maybe the businessmen who said Obama has no grasp of the economy were correct. Those saying this president’s policies were wrong include Steve Wynn, Jack Welch, David Siegel, the late Steve Jobs, Donald Trump and Jeff Immelt, to name a few.

— Barry Levy, Hawthorne

Don’t forget mishandling of Mitrice Richardson case

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Re “Report lists personnel misconduct” (Jan. 3):

I was surprised there was no mention of how the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department compromised Mitrice Richardson’s crime scene by illegally moving her remains after the coroner told them not to touch anything. I believe that falls under personnel misconduct.

— Lester Hill, Huntington Park

Gay-marriage foes aren’t the ones imposing views

Re “Gay-marriage setback should be temporary” (Editorial, Jan. 7):

Your editorial refers to Proposition 8 as being “a small-minded attempt by one group to impose its beliefs on another.” The small-minded group includes a huge majority of every person on Earth: 1.4 billion Christians; 1.4 billion Muslims; Jews; Hindus; Buddhists, etc. And if gay marriage prevails, isn’t that one small group of gay activists imposing its beliefs on another, i.e. the rest of the American public?

Judge Vaughn Walker is a gay man. Wouldn’t common sense, not to mention legal ethics, require him to have recused himself?